Diplomacy and the Hounds of Hell, Part XII

The French are busy complaining that Israel isn't going to take up a 72 hour ceasefire proposed by the diplomats. Why should they? Any ceasefire will only enable Hizbullah time to redeploy and reequip. Right now, Hizbullah is fighting for its life, despite the claims of Walid Jumblatt who says Hizbullah has won this war. Why has Hizbullah won, may you ask? Because they've lasted longer than entire countries did in the Six Day War? Appearances and perceptions count more than facts to these folks. That's why half measures and limited ground campaigns are not going to work. If Israel is going to improve its security position, they must do more than simply eliminate terrorists along its border. It must crush them entirely.

The UN is trying to line up potential contributors to an international peacekeeping force. The EU is confident that the UN will push such a force. No problems there other than the fact that there are so few countries who would send forces, and then there's the question of the mandate and force capability to actually disarm Hizbullah (not that they'd willingly part with their weapons).

And yet, there's word that Hizbullah might agree to a ceasefire that includes the disarming of militias. I'm wary and dubious of such a move, although that shows just how badly Hizbullah has been hit. If they were in a good position strategically and tactically, they would reject such a move out of hand. Another possibility is that they have no intention of doing so, and are simply posturing to put additional international pressure on the Israelis to force them into a ceasefire that Hizbullah has no intention of complying with.

The Israelis have determined that the rockets fired into Afula were of Syrian origin, not Iranian.

Meanwhile, Hizbullah continues to fire rocket barrages into Israel. The battle at Bint Jbeil continues, with Israel exacting heavy casualties on Hizbullah, but taking casualties all the same. The Israelis are also maintaining the pressure on Hamas in Gaza, with continued attacks against weapons caches and other targets. Despite claims that Shalit would be released soon, there's no movement on that front.

Bloggers to check in with for daily updates are Blue Crab Boulevard, Carl in Jerusalem, Israellycool, Dave Bender, Meryl Yourish, Euphoric Reality, Pajamas Media, Hot Air, Jameel at the Muqata, Greetings from the French Hill, R'Lazer, and Live from an Israeli Bunker. Check back with them regularly for updates.

UPDATE:
Salon's Mitch Prothero would like you to believe that Hizbullah hiding among civilian populations is a myth ("almost always false" - note the modifier to provide sufficient wiggle room), and that the terrorist group is fearful of civilian populations. What planet is Prothero living on? Can you tell a Hizbullah terrorist apart from a civilian? No one can, unless the terrorists dying are holding guns, bombs or RPGs in their hands. And that's what the UN itself said. As did locals who have seen the terrorists operating between their homes. And there are repeated reports showing that Hizbullah is operating in and among civilian populations using them as human shields. Mark at USS Neverdock takes Prothero to task. So does Econopundit and Hot Air.

Meanwhile, UN officials are worried that the Israelis might flatten much of Southern Lebanon to root out Hizbullah. Well, that's what you get when the UN fails to do its job and disarm all militias in Lebanon under UN SCR 1559 to maintain and enforce Lebanon's territorial integrity. South Lebanon became Hizbullahland, where they were free to develop bunkers, weapons caches, and prepare for a conflict with Israel at the time and place of their choosing.

At UN peacekeeping headquarters in Naqaura, barely a stone's throw from Israel, political affairs officer Ryszard Morczynski said Tyre would become a target of intense Israeli attacks because Hizbullah was firing rockets from the city's suburbs into Haifa.

"I have no doubt that Israel will flatten Tyre if civilian casualties continue in Haifa. Tyre will be taken off neighborhood by neighborhood," Morczynski warned. "I think Israel is contemplating flattening villages, flattening every single house to deny Hizbullah any advantage of urban fighting in the streets."

He estimated that 80 percent of the roughly half-million people who live in Southern Lebanon, demarcated by the Litani River, have already fled the embattled area. He also said he feared the civilian death toll in Lebanon was more than 600, well more than the official count of 400-plus.

"Hizbullah are still strong" 17 days into the conflict, peacekeeping chief, Maj. Gen. Alain Pellegrini told The Associated Press.

Again, we see so much concern for those living in Southern Lebanon, and not so much concern for the hundreds of thousands of Israelis who have fled Northern Israel or the million living in bunkers and bomb shelters because of the incessant rocket attacks. The UN's myopia is extreme and dangerous to Israel's existence. The UN is also estimating a death toll based on, well not much. Pulling figures out of thin air.

Paul at Powerline takes apart the so-called ceasefire deal that Hizbullah would supposedly agree to.

The key elements are: (1) an immediate cease fire, (2) the release of Lebanese and Israeli prisoners, (3) Israeli withdrawal behind the border, (4) resolution of the status of Chebaa Farms, a small piece of land held by Israel and claimed by Lebanon, in favor of Lebanon, and (5) the "disarming" Hezbollah, and (6) the deployment of the Lebanese army in the south, with the strengthening and increasing of the small, lightly armed U.N. peacekeeping force currently there.

A cease fire under these terms would represent a clear victory for Hezbollah. They began the hostilities for the stated purpose of obtaining the release of its prisoners. The deal would not only enable them to accomplish this, but Israel would lose territory (Chebaa Farms) in the process.

There's no way Israel would agree to these terms, and Hizbullah knows it - so this is nothing more than an expansion on the original terms they set forth. In fact, these terms are more extravagent than the original terms.

Heck, even Andrew Sullivan sees this conflict for what it is - war imposed on Israel by Iran and Syria.

This is a war Iran started. I fear it has just begun. Its ultimate end is simple: the eradication of Israel and the murder of every Jew in the Middle East. Hezbollah and Ahmadinejad are very, very clear about this. And they are playing the p.r. game brilliantly. The president's press conference with Blair today struck me as revealing - and not in a good way. Bush is right on the basic issue. He grasps the nature of the enemy. But he is so out of his depth - rhetorically, strategically, politically, intellectually - that it is hard to have much confidence in his leadership.

After that, Sullivan veers off into claiming that Bush is out of his league and incapable of leading us through this conflict. Never mind that there's no one on the other side of the aisle capable of leading since they're all invariably waffling or otherwise seeking out the partisan political advantage of any move instead of doing the right thing (aka pandering instead of leading). The Iranians have indeed started this war against the West, and for Sullivan to claim that Bush isn't able to lead, one has to wonder whether all the complaints against the Administration that turned out to be exaggerated or unfounded have kneecapped the Administration's ability to deal with this threat more aggressively. After all, the Administration was correct on the WMD issue, correct about those 16 words, and terrorists were operating in Iraq all along with Saddam's consent and approval. Those three memes have been pushed by the Left and anyone in the Democrat party who believed that the Administration did the right thing is being forced out in an ideological purge (e.g. Joe Lieberman).

So, Sullivan has identified the problem, but provides no solution. Engagement and diplomacy are insufficient given that Iran is already at war with us. We must wage war back or else face attack after attack here and abroad.

UPDATE:
Is Abbas trying to distance himself from Nasrallah and Hizbullah. It sure seems that way.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Saturday his government has no intention of teaming up with Shi'ite Hizboullah on negotiating the release of Palestinian and Lebanese prisoners held by Israel.

Israel launched attacks in Gaza after Palestinian Hamas-linked operatives crossed from Gaza into Israel and snatched Cpl. Gilad Shalit on June 25. As that conflict raged, Hizbullah grabbed two soldiers in a July 12 cross-border raid, sparking the current violent conflict raging in the North of Israel and in Lebanon.

Hamas had raised the possibility this week of teaming up with Hizbullah to negotiate terms to release of Palestinian and Lebanese prisoners in Israel in exchange for the three IDF soldiers.

But Abbas said the situations were too different to coordinate a release.

Now why would Abbas do that at a time when other terrorist groups are and public opinion are supposedly flocking to Hizbullah's cause - like al Qaeda and Hamas example? Could it be that Abbas sees the writing on the wall he's trying to play the peacemaker, hoping that he'll come out ahead when all is said and done? Or maybe he realizes that backing Hizbullah is a losing cause and doesn't want to get sucked into a prolonged conflict where Fatah is tremendously disadvantaged against the Israelis, despite the Israeli unwillingness to unleash the full force of its military against the terrorists, instead opting for a piecemeal approach.

The rockets keep flying towards Israel as the sirens go off. More than 40 were fired today.

Ed Morrissey thinks that the Hizbullah peace offering is legit and that the Israelis should call their bluff - especially due to the inclusion of a call to disarm the militias. I'm not so sure, as I posted above. Rick Moran is also dubious of the deal, which is anything but.

UPDATE:
Anyone else find this troubling? The UN will have an observer in the IDF control room to oversee the humanitarian aid convoys to ensure their safety. No word on whether the UN will do the same with Hizbullah. This comes as two more UN peacekeepers were wounded by Israeli airstrikes. Have no doubt that there will be yet more cries for Israel to cease and desist, all while Hizbullah continues to take advantage of positioning itself adjacent to UN positions as shields.

The Israelis are going after border crossings from Syria into Lebanon, hitting Masnaa today. Israel had been going after scattered convoys entering Lebanon from Syria, but today's attack shut down the border crossing. More of this has to be done if the Hizbullah resupply routes are to be eliminated.

The senior Islamic Jihad leader in Nablus was killed by the IDF today.

Nasrallah, meanwhile, says that Israel is a temporary country. Well, what we've got here is another not so thinly veiled threat of genocide. This is with whom the Israelis are supposed to make a deal to end the fighting?

And those who are outraged over the violence done to Lebanon have continued to remain silent over the death and destruction in Israel due to the Hizbullah rockets and ongoing terrorism. Can you say double standard? I knew you could.

Chirac recognizes the obvious: No peacekeeping force in Lebanon until ceasefire. Well, considering that Hizbullah isn't going to lay down their arms willingly (despite their so-called offer to do so), the peacekeeping force is DOA until further notice.

Here's anouther thought on peacekeeping and disarming Hizbullah. Trust but verify. I wouldn't trust Hizbullah to disarm at all. There's no reason to trust or believe them. So, whoever ends up drawing peacekeeping duties must engage in vigorous inspections to ensure that Hizbullah would indeed be keeping to its word.

Technorati: terrorism, fatah, Gilad, Shalit, Olmert, Eliyahu, Asheri, Ashri, Abbas, Rains, Summer, cavaliers, wrath, PRC, Hamas, Gaza, palestinian, Israel, hizbullah, hezbullah, hezbollah, lebanon, syria.

Ahmadinejad Bans Foreign Words

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has ordered government and cultural bodies to use the modified Persian words instead of foreign words, turning pizzas into "elastic loaves," official and domestic media reported on Saturday.

The presidential decree, issued earlier this week, orders all governmental agencies, newspapers and publications to use words deigned more appropriate by the official language watchdog, the Farhangestan Zaban e Farsi or Persian Academy, the Irna official news agency reported.

The academy has introduced more than 2,000 words as alternatives for some of the foreign words that have crept into the Farsi vocabulary, mostly western. The government is less sensitive about Arabic words, because the Koran is written in Arabic.

Always the sign of an insecure regime is a move to ban those words that might show just how bass-ackward your society has become. How will they describe airplanes, Internet, cruise missiles, rockets, liberty, justice, freedom, and a whole litany of words that are foreign or antithetical to Islam.

Facts and Figures

So, a new report indicates that the strength of hurricanes isn't necessarily determined by global warming and that supposed spike in hurricane intensity simply isn't true. It's the result of relying upon spotty and inaccurate historical data.

Studies that link a spike in hurricane intensity with global warming are spotting "artificial upward trends" because they rely on bad historical data, a paper suggested today in the journal Science.

Hurricane intensity is measured by the storms' surface winds. Sometimes those winds are estimated by looking at satellite pictures, using a subjective technique invented in 1972.

Better technology since then, including greater satellite coverage, has led inevitably to higher wind-speed estimates for more recent storms, the authors suggest.

"The resulting higher resolution images and more direct overhead views of tropical cyclones result in greater and more accurate intensity estimates in recent years when using the Dvorak Technique," according to authors Christopher Landsea of the National Hurricane Center, Bruce Harper, Karl Hoarau and John Knaff.

Now that we have satellite coverage and hurricane hunters probing storms from their inception, we can say that a category five storm has formed somewhere over the Gulf of Mexico or out in the Atlantic, whereas a hundred years ago, we would have no idea such storms formed, even when they hit land, because by that time, the storm might be a category one or two.

Also, what people tend to forget is that the claims and suppositions of those saying that the world is facing global warming are doing so based on computer simulations that take into account hundreds and thousands of variables. Yet, as we see on a daily basis, weather forecasts can't even get the next day's weather correct. They could be off by a couple of degrees. The path of storms might diverge from the prediction by a few miles, and the severity of storms might be more or less than predicted.

Those inaccuracies at the macro level might be brushed off, but trying to model how the planet will heat or cool years into the future introduces all kinds of problems if you leave variables out. Do the models include fluctuations in the sun's output? The sun doesn't provide a constant level of energy, and a slight variation could present tremendous changes. Volcanic eruptions are another variable.

UN Actions and Inaction

The five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council reached a deal Friday on a resolution that would give Iran until the end of August to suspend uranium enrichment or face the threat of economic and diplomatic sanctions.

The draft was formally circulated to the full 15-member council late in the day and will likely be adopted next week.

Because of Russian and Chinese demands, the text is weaker than earlier drafts, which would have made the threat of sanctions immediate. The draft now essentially requires the council to hold further discussions before it considers sanctions.

"There (are) no sanctions introduced on Iran in the draft resolution which we are finalizing," Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said.

Churkin stressed that work on the resolution was not finished, raising the possibility the introduction of the draft could be postponed.

The resolution, drafted by Britain, France and Germany with U.S. backing, is a followup to a July 12 agreement — by the foreign ministers of those four countries, plus Russia and China — to refer Tehran to the Security Council for not responding to incentives to suspend enrichment.

The ministers asked that council members adopt a resolution making Iran's suspension of enrichment activities mandatory. Tehran said last week it would reply Aug. 22 to the Western incentive package, but the council decided to go ahead with a resolution and not wait for Iran's response.

Iran on Friday called again for international negotiations on its nuclear ambitions and said it was considering the incentives. Western nations have dismissed the idea of such talks without a halt to Iran's uranium enrichment.

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, speaking to reporters in Malaysia, said Tehran considers the package as a "positive step" toward a diplomatic solution.

I'm not particularly hopeful about Iran's response to this. They'll find even the minor restrictions in this resolution to be far too constricting on their nuclear weapons ambitions.

Guess US Ambassador to the UN, John Bolton, can work with his counterparts after all.

Meanwhile, the UN says that the United States should give the District of Columbia full voting rights, including full representation in Congress. They also said that the US should shut the detention centers where the US is holding terrorists and battlefield detainees who were quite busy trying to kill Americans right up until their capture.

Doesn't the UN have more pressing issues than wonder about how DC is represented? You know, like Sudan and Somalia? At the same time, the UN repeatedly undermines the efforts to eliminate international terrorism and points to international law as though it is a club with which to slug the US and Israel whenever they act in self defense and to protect the rest of the world from Islamists whose intent is to impose their Islamist ideology on the world.

Rethinking New Jersey Tax Relief

For starters, one needs to stop talking about property tax relief as if it exists in a vacuum. It does not. Property tax relief since the 1970s has meant paying a personal income tax on the gross income tax of taxpayers in the state. Does that seem like tax relief to you?

It shouldn't.

Therefore, the only way to properly deal with property tax relief is to recognize that the solutions must not increase taxes elsewhere for that only shifts the revenue stream from property taxes to those other taxes. The tax burden remains the same or higher.

The four general means to property tax relief consist of reducing spending, increasing other taxes, overhauling school funding, and ending the property tax rebates. There are pros and cons to each, but those that are most likely to have a lasting effect are reducing spending and overhauling the school funding formulas. Of course the biggest impediment to changes in either are the unions, which are far too cozy to Gov. Corzine than one can possibly imagine.

Burden shifting does not solve the problem. It's time to face the facts and deal with the root causes - out of control spending and a school funding formula that is fundamentally flawed and imposed on the state by the judiciary.

As always, Enlighten NJ has more details on the dysfunctional state spending and revenue plans.

Minor Tweaking

I've undertaken some minor tweaking of the site, including adding links for digg and Del.icio.us. I've also added a direct link to Legalbgl's inaugural post, for those that want to know more about my co-blogger.

Other changes will be forthcoming...

The Straight Dope

Did Floyd Landis somehow man up with a little extra help to win the Tour de France? If the blood tests pan out, the answer would be yes - and his victory, along with the amazing comeback, wiped from the record books.

The initial blood test reveals that his testosterone levels exceeded the ratio set by the World Anti-Doping Agency that checks these things.

The test is a ratio of testosterone to epitestosterone in his blood.

Under World Anti-Doping Agency regulations, a ratio of testosterone to epitestosterone greater than 4:1 is considered a positive result and subject to investigation. The threshold was recently lowered from 6:1. The most likely natural ratio of testosterone to epitestosterone in humans is 1:1.

Testosterone is included as an anabolic steroid on WADA's list of banned substances, and its use can be punished by a two-year ban.

Testosterone can build muscle and improve recovery time when used over a period of several weeks, said Dr. Gary Wadler, a member of the World Anti-Doping Agency and a spokesman for the American College of Sports Medicine. But if Landis had been a user, his earlier urine tests during the tour would have been affected, he said.

"So something's missing here," Wadler said. "It just doesn't add up."

Landis' inspiring Tour was reminiscent of fellow American Tyler Hamilton's gutsy 2003 ride. Hamilton, riding for team CSC, broke his collarbone on the first day of the Tour but rode on, despite the pain, and finished fourth overall.

But a year later, Hamilton, then riding for Phonak, tested positive for blood doping at a Spanish race and now is serving a two-year ban. He has denied blood doping.

Landis knows that he could clear his name, but not his reputation. The stigma will linger - much as similar claims have repeatedly been made about seven time winner Lance Armstrong.

All this comes after a number of racers were banned from the Tour de France because a doping scandal right before the Tour began, including Jan Ulrich and Ivan Basso who were among the favorites to win the event now that Lance Armstrong retired from the sport.

Technorati: floyd landis, testosterone, tour de france.

Diplomacy and the Hounds of Hell, Part XI

The senior Iranian in Damascus says that he's sure that Hizbullah will win. Would that be because you're continuing to supply Hizbullah with rockets, missiles, mortars, and targeting information? Or, more likely, simply wishful thinking and hoping that the world will rein in Israel before Hizbullah is nothing but a bad memory. Hizbullah says that they'll fight Israel in South Lebanon villages. Welcome to reality; you're already fighting Israel in those villages, and you keep getting killed in large numbers - although most are attributed to civilian casualties.

In a departure from the usual [ed: there you go with the sarcasm], Chirac says that he's going to press the UN Security Council for a ceasefire resolution, as are five Muslim nations. Never mind that a ceasefire without the disarmament of Hizbullah is a tactical and strategic win for the terrorist organization, any end to the hostilities must come when Hizbullah has been defeated.

Secretary of State Rice isn't going to put any timetable on returning to the Middle East to try and work out a ceasefire. Good on her. Diplomats are good for jawboning, but this conflict is not going to be decided by the diplomats. The rules of the game have changed. There is some recognition that Hizbullah has to be defeated, but the idea that a ceasefire is going to get the job done is wishful thinking on the part of those same diplomats who are thinking that the UN is the route to salvation.

The UN is complicit in this whole mess, with the abject failure of the UNIFIL to disarm Hizbullah and secure the Israel/Lebanon border. Israel refuses to let the UN be a part of any peacekeeping force. Ed Morrissey has the details. Ed also notes that the UN and Kofi Annan knew about Hizbullah's plans to use UNIFIL bases as shields for their terror operations and yet did nothing to stop it.

Israeli airstrikes are pounding the Bek'aa Valley. Other airstrikes eliminated Hizbullah missile command in Tyre, which is responsible for the ongoing rocket attacks against Haifa.

And why is the opinion of Arabs around the world supposedly turning in favor of Hizbullah?

Now, with hundreds of Lebanese dead and Hezbollah holding out against the vaunted Israeli military for more than two weeks, the tide of public opinion across the Arab world is surging behind the organization, transforming the Shiite group’s leader, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, into a folk hero and forcing a change in official statements.

The Saudi royal family and King Abdullah II of Jordan, who were initially more worried about the rising power of Shiite Iran, Hezbollah’s main sponsor, are scrambling to distance themselves from Washington.

An outpouring of newspaper columns, cartoons, blogs and public poetry readings have showered praise on Hezbollah while attacking the United States and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice for trumpeting American plans for a “new Middle East” that they say has led only to violence and repression.

Even Al Qaeda, run by violent Sunni Muslim extremists normally hostile to all Shiites, has gotten into the act, with its deputy leader, Ayman al-Zawahri, releasing a taped message saying that through its fighting in Iraq, his organization was also trying to liberate Palestine.

Where to start with this mess. Al Qaeda is trying to stay relevant and therefore is using the situation in Lebanon to claim that it is still around. Never mind that their operational and organizational capabilities are severely degraded (despite the fancy studio-like setting of the latest tape), they're worried that they're being overshadowed by Hizbullah (a Shi'ite Islamist movement.

The number of so-called civilian casualties has something to do with this. No one knows exactly how many civilians were killed in Lebanon thus far - Hizbullah blends into civilian populations and a terrorist that isn't holding a gun looks just like the civilian in the apartment next door. For all we know, the overwhelming majority of casualties in Lebanon are terrorists, and Hizbullah knows that they're getting pasted.

Most Arab regimes are uncomfortable with the fact of rooting for Israel to eliminate the Islamist threat coming from Iran - Hizbullah has Iranian backing (which Iran claims isn't true and attempts to spin the question so as to ask why the US supports Israel) after all and nearly everyone recognizes that this crisis is being spurred on by the mad mullahs and Ahmadinejad in Tehran. With the majority of the Muslims around the world being Sunni, this has those countries rethinking their positions on the Arab Israeli conflict and how they're going to deal with the threat of Iran. While they certainly appreciate Israel keeping Iran in check, they've got to burnish their own image for fear of their own Sunni Islamists taking care of business against their regimes.

And to those who want to say I told you so, claiming that Hizbullah has prepared for this moment and therefore the change in world opinion should have been expected because of the civilian casualties - that is no excuse for letting Hizbullah continue to exist to threaten Israelis. For all the talk about Lebanese casaulties let us not forget the following:

1) More than 1 million Israelis are living in bunkers and bomb shelters because of the thousands of rockets and mortars fired into Israel by Hizbullah and Hamas in just the past three weeks. Before that time, hundreds more were launched into Israel but no response by Israel was made which led Hizbullah to believe that they could take more severe actions against Israel without any fear of serious reprisal.

2) More than 300,000 Israelis are now refugees within their own country. Most are from the Northern Israel communities being shelled by Hizbullah and they've relocated to areas they deem out of the range of most of the missiles being fired by Hizbullah.

Those actions cannot be allowed to continue. Hizbullah may have dug into South Lebanon and turned it into their own version of the Iron Triangle (Cu Chi), and are planning to wage a guerilla war against Israel, but Israel cannot permit this situation to continue. There will be heavy casualties, but unless someone else is going to eliminate Hizbullah's capacity to kill Israelis (anyone see any hands waiving to do that job? no I didn't think so), this fighting will continue.

Israel's callup of 30,000 reserves shows that they're in this fight for the duration.

Bloggers to check in with for daily updates are Blue Crab Boulevard, Carl in Jerusalem, Israellycool, Dave Bender, Meryl Yourish, Euphoric Reality, Pajamas Media, Hot Air, Jameel at the Muqata, Greetings from the French Hill, R'Lazer, and Live from an Israeli Bunker. Check back with them regularly for updates.

UPDATE:
Afula has come under Hizbullah rocket attack. However, the rockets fired appear to be a different type than others fired into Israel. Rockets keep getting fired at Haifa, despite the attacks on Hizbullah targets in Lebanon.

The UN seems to have finally wised up and UNIFIL observers are being withdrawn from the border. What took them so long? It's not like they didn't see this fighting coming based on the years of preparation by Hizbullah and then the hasty preparations after Israel began its airstrikes against Hizbullah targets in Lebanon. And Hizbullah was using UNIFIL positions as cover for their operations against Israel.

John Podhoretz wonders if Israel is too nice to win against Hizbullah. I was making a similar argument earlier in the week. Ralph Peters chastizes the Israeli leadership for not following through and destroying Hizbullah - anything less than eliminating the group will result in the propaganda that Hizbullah and the Arab world crave. They're unconcerned with facts - it is the mythos that counts. Bint Jbeil will be immortalized by the Hizbullah faithful as a place where Israel paid the price for trying to deal with Hizbullah - not as a place where Hizbullah was eliminated completely. In sum, he says strength of will will win the fight and Israel must do more than commit its forces piecemeal to the battlefield.

UPDATE:
The Israelis have identified the new missiles fired by Hizbullah as the Fajr-5 (though the Hizbullah are calling it the Khaibar-1), which is of Iranian origin. The rockets contain 100kg of explosives. The rockets that hit Afula travelled more than 70km, which makes them the longest range weapons fired into Israel to date. While the launcher was destroyed by Israeli airstrikes, it is unknown how many others are in Hizbullah's arsenal.

What this also shows is that Israel's intent to carve out a security corridor along the border only 1-2km in depth is insufficient to prevent rocket attacks. Even driving to the Litani River is insufficient to protect Northern Israel from these attacks. Israel must do more to interdict the resupply routes from Syria. Only then can Israel gain a handle on the situation and eliminate the Hizbullah arsenals and caches killing as many Hizbullah terrorists as possible. That means engaging in ground warfare, which Israel's leadership must not shy away from despite the possibility of heavy casualties. Failure simply is not an option for Israel here, and half measures will convey precisely the wrong signals to the terrorists and their sycophants.

Meanwhile, why should anyone listen to Warren Christopher? He's been wrong on how to deal with the Middle East too many times to count that there's no reason to take him seriously - yet he's calling for Israel to essentially cave in to the terrorists. He calls it a ceasefire, but is there any reason to believe that Hizbullah will adhere to the terms? Hey, it's all for peace, but Israel will be in pieces as a result.

UPDATE:
The Israeli hospital in Nayariha was hit by a Hizbullah rocket. No one was injured, but there was some light damage to the top floor. Fighting continues in Bint Jbeil.

The Weekly Standard has an interesting post that counters the conventional wisdom that al Qaeda and Hizbullah are rivals and would not work together. I think that's stretching things a bit, as they are rivals - their leaders have egos that need stroking, but they are willing to fight the same cause. Bill Roggio wonders if Israel will pay the cost for genuine victory, echoing the ruminations by Podhoretz and Peters. Kicking this problem down the road will not solve anything - it only gives Hizbullah the ability to further consolidate its power and prestige in the Middle East as well as prepare for the next round of fighting with Israel. That's why a ceasefire is such an incredibly bad idea.

Charles Krauthammer lays down a gauntlet of his own - calling the judgment being passed on the fighting as living in an Orwellian moral universe. Up is down. Right is wrong. Black is white. And Israel can do no right, even if it includes defending itself against genocidal terrorists and their state sponsors. Joe Biden follows Warren Christopher down the rose-colored path claiming that one needs to rely upon diplomacy. Diplomacy with whom? Terrorists? Nice. What will providing cease fires to terrorists will accomplish? The absence of live fire, which you take to mean peace, is in reality a lull in the long war against Israel's existence. It does nothing except permit the terrorists to rearm and reequip for the next phase in the war.

There are now reports that Nasrallah is in the Iranian embassy in Beirut. If true, that undermines the Iranian statements that they're not providing assistance to Hizbullah.

There seems to be quite a bit of resistance to the idea that changing the situation in the Middle East is a good idea. I mean, look how swimmingly well things have been since the end of World War I. That the Bush Administration is trying to tackle the issue instead of punting it down the road shows that he recognizes that the threats posed by the Islamists is an important distinction between him and his predecessors. No amount of financial aid will eliminate the ideology that portrays Islam as the superior religion that will come to dominate the world. It will not salve the wound of having a liberal Western democracy in the heart of the Middle East - Israel, nor does it accept the notion of a democratic Lebanon or Iraq. Such things cannot stand.

UPDATE:
Instapundit notes a truism:

The difference is that Israel causes civilian casualties when it misses its targets, Hezbollah causes civilian casualties when it hits its targets.

That sums it up, doesn't it. Israel goes out of its way to avoid hitting civilian targets. Hizbullah purposefully attacks hospitals, schools, residential complexes. Hizbullah hides its assets among residential buildings, schools, mosques, and other civilian facilities. And the odd UNIFIL outpost.

Charles at LGF has a posting showing the extent of the Israeli targeting in Beirut, which dispels much of the overheated rhetoric from Hizbullah and its mouthpieces in Lebanon about how the Israelis are levelling the city. Far from levelling the city, Israel has purposefully avoided doing just that. They've specifically targeted a limited area, which undermines the effectiveness of their air campaign because Hizbullah is so firmly entrenched in civilian areas - that Hizbullah knows it has effectively used human shields to prevent a full Israeli response.

John Barry at Newsweek seems to think that Israel is doomed to fail because it's blinded by nationalism. Umm. How should I phrase this delicately. Israel's existence is at stake because genocidal terrorists and their state sponsors want to eliminate Israel and you think that Israel fighting back is making the situation worse? Worse for who? A million Israelis are under the gun being fired upon by Hizbullah on a daily basis and are sitting in bomb shelters and bunkers if they haven't joined the hundreds of thousands of other Israelis who have fled south to get out of the missile range. This statement suggests just how flawed Barry's logic is:

But Kissinger hadn’t reckoned on one figure in the talks: Israel’s leader, Golda Meir. She simply could not believe that Sadat and Assad were serious. Instead, she behaved as if Israel’s only hope of security lay in every inch of captured real estate it could keep. So Kissinger’s 1974 shuttle, seeking disengagement on the Golan Heights, descended into near farcical haggling over strips of barren soil of no conceivable military value. Kissinger got a deal, but only a minimal one.

Israel recognized then, as it does now, that missiles fired into Israel will cause damage to Israeli towns and cities. Keeping those missiles as far away from those cities and towns has strategic and tactical value. Hizbullah capitalized on Israel's withdrawal from South Lebanon by moving all their rockets inside the former security zone, and now fire their rockets mercilessly down on Israelis.

Israel's security situation from 1983 to 2000 saw its military in near constant fighting with Hizbullah in South Lebanon. There were occasional attacks into Israel, but the fighting was contained to South Lebanon. From 2000 forward, Hizbullah began attacking Israel regularly from South Lebanon. While the disengagement from Lebanon provided Israel relief from the constant military operations, they gave up land - a physical barrier that make it difficult for Hizbullah to fire its arsenal into Israel, which Barry thinks had no value, but now shows the worth of even land with 'no military value.'

Others blogging the conflict: Blue Crab Boulevard, Meryl Yourish, The Sundries Shack, Outside the Beltway, Wizbang, The Jawa Report, Israpundit, discarded lies, and Confederate Yankee.

UPDATE:
Alexandra at All Things Beautiful takes the UN down another notch. Michael at the Moderate Voice notes that Israel still has the moral high ground, regardless of what the media says. Chad Evans wonders where Nasrallah is. Is he in Damascus or the Iranian embassy in Beirut. Good question. No one seems to know for sure.

UPDATE:
Bush and Blair are saying that they support a multinational force in Lebanon. Couple of questions that remain unanswered - who will supply the troops, who will tell Hizbullah to lay down its arms and withdraw from the affected areas, and will it secure the release of the Israeli soldiers they took?

Bush said he planned to appeal to the United Nations "for a Chapter 7 resolution setting out a clear framework for cessation of hostilities on an urgent basis, and mandating the multinational force."

British diplomats have been talking about a cease-fire followed by deployment of an international border force, CNN's Robin Oakley reported. Then a second stage would begin, involving a larger border force that would also help with disarming Hezbollah and establishing a greater role for Lebanese government forces.

Friday's Washington meeting follows an Italian conference of key Middle East decision-makers that failed to agree on an immediate cease-fire as the United States, backed by Britain, insisted any halt to violence should be linked to a wider effort to disarm Hezbollah. (Full story)

A senior U.N. diplomat has described the mood at those talks as somber. He said all the parties but the United States wanted an immediate cessation of fighting to make room for more negotiations and humanitarian aid.

Rice argued that taking such an approach would leave Hezbollah in place and armed with rockets.

Once again, we're witnessing diplomats far more concerned with process than facts. They want ceasefires so that they can claim that there isn't anyone getting hit with ordnance, but disregard the fact that Hizbullah will use this as a pregnant pause in their genocidal campaign to kill Israelis at all costs - even the destruction of Lebanon. There's absolutely no evidence to suggest that Hizbullah would ever accept disarmament, other than in the wishful thinking of diplomats. Their words and deeds speak only of death and destruction for the West and Israel.

The US recognizes that the situation cannot return to the status quo ante. This isn't about world opinion, despite how the diplomats want to play this. This is about Israel's survival and eliminating a threat to not only Israel, but Lebanon and the rest of the world.

Posted to the following: Basil's Blog, Rodeo of the Mind, Jo's Cafe, bRight and Early, and TMH Bacon Bits.

Technorati: terrorism, fatah, Gilad, Shalit, Olmert, Eliyahu, Asheri, Ashri, Abbas, Rains, Summer, cavaliers, wrath, PRC, Hamas, Gaza, palestinian, Israel, hizbullah, hezbullah,
hezbollah,
lebanon, syria.

Jihad from Spain to Iraq

CAIRO, Egypt — Al Qaeda's No. 2 leader issued a worldwide call in a new videotape released Thursday for Muslims to rise up in a holy war against Israel and join the fighting in Lebanon and Gaza until Islam reigns from "Spain to Iraq."

In the message broadcast by Al-Jazeera television, Ayman al-Zawahiri, second in command to Usama bin Laden, said that Al Qaeda now views "all the world as a battlefield open in front of us."

The Egyptian-born physician said that the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah and Palestinian militants would not be ended with "cease-fires or agreements."

"It is a Jihad for the sake of God and will last until (our) religion prevails ... from Spain to Iraq," al-Zawahiri said. "We will attack everywhere." Spain was controlled by Arab Muslims until they were driven from power at the turn of the 16th century.

At first blush this is not anything new. Al Qaeda wants to wage war against the world in the name of God. We have known that for some time. Maybe it was more vocalized, but it was not shocking. However, it was the line, "from Spain to Iraq," that caught my attention.

Spain pulled its troops from Iraq following the Madrid train bombing in 2004 and the election of the new Socialist government. In part, you have to think that the new Government pulled its troops to ward off future attacks from Muslim extremists. However, now, Spain has been pushed into the forefront of the terrorists’ targets.

While I do not believe that Spain would have turned the tide on the war against terror, or would have significantly contributed towards capturing Bin Laden, I do find it ironic that Al Qaeda has specifically mentioned Spain as a target. Wonder if Spain will continue to stick its collective heads in the sand when Al Qaeda come bombing again.

NYC Infrastructure v2.0

The New York metro area infrastructure has been in place for more than 100 years, and in some areas, it is well past full capacity. Long term improvements are underway - like the Third Water Tunnel that will provide billions of gallons of drinking water to the city and enable workers to finally make repairs and improve the existing two tunnels that bring water from upstate reservoirs to New York City using nothing but gravity to provide all the water pressure needed throughout the city up to a height of six stories without additional pumping.

Meanwhile, the Javits Center expansion, a $1.7 billion project got a critical approval from state officials yesterday. That expansion means thousands of additional jobs and millions in revenues will come into the city.

The Port Authority is set to vote upon funding the Trans Hudson Express tunnel, which would double train capacity into New York City from New Jersey. That project is expected to cost about $7 billion, with the Port Authority providing $2 billion. The biggest problem facing getting the tunnel built is that New Jersey's fiscal situation is so awful, that it is unclear where the state will get the money to cover their share of the costs. Have no doubt that taxes will be raised and all kinds of gimmicks pulled to make the project happen.

Power outages might come to a neighborhood near you, as Con Ed saw parts of Staten Island go dark yesterday. The outage was only a few hours long, but enough to remind anyone with a pulse that the electric system is in serious trouble in the city. Anyone want to remind the State Legislature to reauthorize the expedited siting procedures to enable power generation companies to build new power facilities in the state?

Then there are the obsolete bridges and roads that need to be replaced, including the Goethals Bridge, which is a disaster waiting to happen with lanes that are too narrow and would not meet current building and engineering requirements, and whose roadbed is deficient and requires repeated closures to repair. A parallel span is under consideration.

And that's the tip of the iceberg - a report card of the state's needs show a need for massive investment to maintain and upgrade existing infrastructure.

Random Questions of the Day

Are bikinis sexy for what they reveal or because of what they hide?

Are men and women in uniform sexier than those who aren't?

Which is sexier, gals in uniform or gals in a bikini? Can you have both? (rhetorical question of course).

Discuss.

Questions posed to provide relief for those who are experiencing fatigue from all the war talk.

Oh, and a blatant and shameless effort to attract one Glenn Reynolds who knows that this is still blog sweeps month.

Diplomacy and the Hounds of Hell, Part X

So, al Qaeda feels like everyone is forgetting about them, so Zawahiri had to make a video showing that he's still relevant and that he's calling for worldwide jihad in support of his 'brothers' in Lebanon. Never mind that the moment the jihadis would win against the West, they'd go back to slaughtering each other en masse (and witness that they've got no problems killing each other in Iraq). And never mind that the jihadis have been getting defeated everywhere you look - despite the media reports, Hizbullah, Hamas, PIJ, and al Qaeda have all been losing men and materials, which limits their capabilities to conduct mass casualty attacks abroad. This isn't to say that they can't strike, only that we're taking the fight to the jihadis - hence the pep talks to the jihadis from Nasrallah.

Meanwhile, the Israelis continue pushing ahead albeit in a limited fashion and the thought occurred to me - what if the West simply isn't ruthless enough to win. We know the terrorists are ruthless - they'll blow up themselves, civilians, and everything around them to win. The West does everything possible to avoid blowing up everything around their targets, and will even call off missions to avoid hitting anything but the target.

Do we need to be more ruthless to win against a ruthless enemy? I think the answer is yes, as troubling as it sounds. The terrorists know that they can hide behind civilians - and know that the media will carry water for them - blaming the nations defending themselves from the terrorism for civilian casualties. That mindset must be broken once and for all.

Ed Morrissey has more details on the Canadian soldier killed at the UN outpost and his emails to superior officers.

The penultimate paragraph of Major Hess-von Kruedener's e-mail is prophetic, to say the least: "The closest artillery has landed within two metres of our position and the closest 1,000-pound aerial bomb has landed 100 metres from our patrol base. This has not been deliberate targeting, but has rather been due to tactical necessity."

This is what we call "veiled speech" in military jargon. It means hiding the truth in lingo that outsiders would not necessarily understand. What he is saying translates roughly as: "We have Hezbollah fighters all over our position engaging the IDF and using us as shields. They will probably stay, hoping that the IDF won't target them for fear of hitting us."

This reinforces and supports the contentions of many here - that Hizbullah was operating at, near, and alongside UN positions hoping to use them as shields against Israeli forces.

Israel engaged the terrorists near the UN outpost out of tactical necessity. You want to investigate, let's start with the UN investigating how and why they'd permit a terrorist group to overrun their outposts on a regular basis. Is this blaming the victims? Nope. It's blaming the UN leadership who while claiming to be a neutral observer, was neither neutral nor an observer. The use of UN positions without complaint shows tacit approval of such behaviors, knowing that the consequences could include Israeli strikes.

Meanwhile, the terrorists have managed to hit an Israeli chemical plant in Kiryat Shimona. Massive rocket barrages hit all along Northern Israel. All the same, the Israeli cabinet declined to expand Israeli operations beyond their current limits. I think that's a bad idea. Hizbullah is fighting with no such constraints, and apparently can still cross the border between Lebanon and Syria without too much trouble. Nasrallah is in Damascus, which means he was able to run the gauntlet. I guess he's too important to die a martyr by blowing himself up in front of Israeli troops or to sacrifice himself in a bunker somewhere in Lebanon leading his terror minions. Coward.

That he was able to run the gauntlet suggests that the Syria/Lebanon border isn't sealed, and that's got to be a priority for the Israelis. Securing Israel's northern border might limit the rocket attacks, but sealing Lebanon off from Syria will eliminate them altogether when combined with efforts to stamp out Hizbullah in Southern Lebanon.

Also, Debka is reporting that Israeli airstrikes paid dividends again -

DEBKAfile’s military sources: The huge explosions that struck South Beirut Tuesday evening were caused by 20 Israeli airborne missiles dropping on large, newly-discovered Hizballah subterranean arms caches, part of this tunnel network.

The force of the secondary blasts attested to their contents and the accuracy of the Israeli intelligence pinpointing of previously unknown weapons bunkers in S. Beirut.

Lots of secondaries means that someone had a whole bunch of buried treasure that got blown up before it could be used. Much of the damage to the surrounding area wasn't due to the Israeli bombs, but the Hizbullah arms caches that were hit. Terrorists were storing those weapons under and in residential areas, knowing that if they were discovered, their detonations would likely result in civilian casualties.


Meanwhile, Jan Egeland is back at it - saying that Israel has created a generation of hatred.

United Nations humanitarian chief Jan Egeland accused Israel on Wednesday of committing "catastrophic mistakes" in its attack on Hizbullah, which have caused civilian casualties and alienated the Lebanese public.

"It will create a generation of hatred," he said in an interview held with The Jerusalem Post after he had concluded tours of northern Israel, Gaza and Lebanon.

Never mind the hatred that thousands of rockets fired into Israel and followed by the silence of the UN has stirred among Israelis who are tired of dealing with terrorists who seek their very annihilation.

Israel's existence is an anathema to Islamists - and those groups seek Israel's destruction. They do not want accomodation. They seek elimination. The only mistake Israel has made is accepting a certain level of violence for years without taking decisive action. That made the terrorists believe that they could strike with impunity and obtain their objectives relatively bloodlessly - killing Israel with thousands of little papercuts.

Israel has disabused them of that notion. The Israelis are taking the fight to Hizbullah, and their entrenchment throughout South Lebanon shows what they've been up to for the past six years - preparing for their war with Israel.

There are tactical differences between fighting a guerilla war - which Hizbullah will engage in, and fighting against an actual army. You can plink tanks, destroy artillery units, and eliminate APCs. Those are assets that can't easily be hidden from the eyes in the sky.

The same can't be said of tunnels and bunkers buried underground and guys with a couple of anti-tank weapons and rockets playing hit and run. Those that are standing and fighting are liable to do so to the death.

Not saying it can't be done, because it can, but that the costs will be high for the Israelis if they are putting the lives of Lebanese civilians ahead of their own soldiers.

Bloggers to check in with for daily updates are Blue Crab Boulevard, Carl in Jerusalem, Israellycool, Dave Bender, Meryl Yourish, Euphoric Reality, Pajamas Media, Hot Air, Jameel at the Muqata, Greetings from the French Hill, R'Lazer, and Live from an Israeli Bunker. Check back with them regularly for updates.

UPDATE:
Lebanon claims that about 600 people have been killed in their country. Never mind that figure because there's no way to know how many of them were terrorists and who were genuine civilians. But if Israeli strikes in Gaza are a guide, the ratio of terrorists to civilians is quite high.

Michelle Malkin's readers reach into history to pull out a cartoon from the 1970s that shows the UN was just as ineffectual against terrorism then as it is today. The problem remains the same.

Israel continues to try and devise a strategy for dealing with the situation in Gaza. They declined to have a mass callup of units, which shows that some have an eye towards the ongoing economic disruptions as a result of extended high intensity military operations. At the same time, some ministers are calling for more usage of airpower and artillery to turn terrorist strongpoints into rubble before sending in ground forces - reducing the risks to Israeli troops on the ground. Hizbullah will not be able have their flags fly in South Lebanon.

The diplomats keep trying to show that they are somehow relevant. The Aussie PM says that an international peacekeeping force in Lebanon is suicide. At least someone remembers what happened the last time there was a significant peacekeeping force in Lebanon and whose rules of engagement prevented attacking terrorists.

Kofi Annan might have gone way too far in claiming that Israel purposefully attacked the UN outpost, but that wont stop him and his cohorts from making preposterous statements. They only have a few months left before their terms are up, so they think that they can say whatever they want. That should not be allowed to stand. They are not free to make baseless accusations that affect the diplomatic postures of the various countries, but undermine the UN directly. Benny Avni has more.

There were reports earlier today about how the Palestinian terrorists might be on the verge of releasing Gilad Shalit. Well, not so fast. The Palestinians are backtracking furiously. The AP claims that the translation of Abbas' earlier statements were incorrect. No word on when the AP will issue corrections on the many stories claiming Israel is killing civilians in Lebanon and Gaza although no one knows just how many terrorists were killed who were operating in the midst of residential areas.

Meanwhile, Lebanese doctors are claiming that they're seeing wounds that they've never encountered before and that the Israelis are using chemical weapons - no proof. No photos. Nothing to support the accusations. But the media reports this nonetheless and it's repeated as fact by a willing media. Outside the Beltway notes this story as well. But it's not like this story hasn't been played before - it has. Security Watchtower notes that the same accusations were made against the US and coalition members in Iraq when some casualties were hit with phosphorous rounds. And the same media lapped it up knowing full well that these munitions are not chemical weapons, which are a special class of weapons known as WMD. Liberty and Justice looks at the claims with skepticism.

UPDATE:
Israpundit takes the LAT to task for their coverage of Annan's statements about Israel, Hizbullah, and the UN outpost.

From the UN daily briefing comes these tidbits:

There were three incidents of firing close to UN positions in the last 24 hours from the Israeli side. It was also reported that Hezbollah fired from the vicinity of four UN positions at Marwahin, Alma Ash Shab, Brashit, and At Tiri. The UNIFIL Engineering Contingent from China successfully disposed of one mortar bomb inside the Ghanaian battalion position, in the area of Marwahin.

In plain English, the Israelis were engaging in Hizbullah targets located near UN positions, and the Hizbullah were operating in the vicinity of UN positions - and hoping that UN positions would take fire from Israel, knowing that world reaction would come down on Israel, not Hizbullah. Kofi really should read these briefs more often. He'd see that his peacekeepers are being used as cannon fodder by Hizbullah, not Israel who is trying to eliminate the threat.

Kofi has no intention to retract his claim that the Israeli attack was 'apparently deliberate.' Of course he doesn't. He couldn't care less about the facts and has made his mind up. That's all there is to it.

Newsweek wonders whether a UN peacekeeping force would work in Lebanon. My answer is a most emphatic no. UNIFIL is an international force that was supposed to prevent this from happening - preventing Hizbullah from operating, from crossing the border and attacking Israel, and otherwise enforce UN SCR 1559. It has done none of that since it was formed. There's absolutely no reason to believe that yet another UN force would be any more successful. The countries that would support such a peacekeeping force are reluctant to send troops. Israel is wary of the UN, especially considering its inability to police the Lebanese border and their inability or incapability to thwart a Hizbullah buildup of weapons and fortifications along the border.

Hizbullah has no qualms about hitting peacekeepers, and will likely do so again. They're already showing a willingness to operate in the vicinity of UNIFIL operations, so to either shield themselves from direct fire, or to hope that the UN positions themselves come under fire from Israel.

Hizbullah also has no intentions to leave the battlefield under any circumstances, and will not put down their weapons, which is a precondition for any Israeli agreement on the matter. The world shouldn't accept a continued presence of an armed militia in Lebanon that can destabilize the situation in the country at the drop of a hat (or at the behest of Syria and Iran).

Ha'aretz notes that every few years another person rises up in the Arab World who claims to have the power and backing to stamp out Israel and save the Palestinians. Ha'aretz thinks that it's Nasrallah. I think they're close, but the real deal is Ahmadinejad, who already has a country, is seeking nuclear capabilities, and is funding Nasrallah and pulling the strings.

UPDATE:
Confederate Yankee takes apart the 'chemical weapon' claims, and cites back to nearly identical claims made against the US in the Fallujah campaign.

Kesher Talk demands that Kofi release the UNIFIL documents. Seems that the UN is engaging in a bit of CYA and projection to boot. If Hizbullah was indeed operating from UNIFIL positions, the UN would be in a very precarious position.

Others blogging: Fausta, Wretchard, neo-neocon, and Sigmund, Carl and Alfred.

UPDATE:
Still more UN nonsense. They issued a statement at the shock of the Israelis firing at a UN position. The US blocked any language that might be even more harsh than that. Meanwhile, the UN produced no such statement condemning or expressing shock at Hizbullah operating in the vicinity of UNIFIL positions, attacking UNIFIL positions, or drawing Israeli fire onto UNIFIL positions. Nor did the UN issue a statement thanking Israel for providing humanitarian support to the UNIFIL personnel injured in two separate Hizbullah attacks on UNIFIL positions or convoys. Again, it doesn't look like anyone at the UN reads their own pressers.

A Jerusalem Post reporter ventured into Lebanon and found some curious things. The UNIFIL personnel stationed at some of these outposts haven't heard from the UN superiors and only gain their news from the television.

The current contingent from Ghana has been in Lebanon for three months. The soldiers at the post are charged with patrolling and monitoring, with their single jeep, the area where the heaviest fighting has been going on for the last 10 days. The fact that Hizbullah has been well entrenched in the area ever since Israel's withdrawal six years ago - with hundreds of fighters, well stocked ammunition depots and extensive fortifications - seemed to have escape the Ghanaians notice. "I have never seen one of them," says the soldier. "You cannot easily identify them in the population."

Hear no evil, see no evil. It's easier for these peacekeepers, and sounds rediculously familiar to the way the UN operated in Rwanda in 1994 - where UN peacekeepers stood by while more than 800,000 were slaughtered.

At the beginning of the fighting, a number of bombs exploded around the UNIFIL post, including one 150 meters from the gate. Two weeks later, the area around the post is quiet, except for the distant thud of artillery fire. Hizbullah has been banished from this small part of Lebanon. IDF Merkava tanks roar through a nearby opening in the border fence. There isn't even a guard at the border and Israeli and foreign journalists pass in and out unhindered.

The Ghanaian soldiers weren't even aware of the breach in the fence they are supposed to monitor, by mandate of the United Nations.

And there are those who think that the UNIFIL operations should be extended? They weren't doing their job before the fighting erupted, and they're not doing it now.

Hizbullah continues to fire rockets into Israel, and they're now firing mortars as well.

The IDF is surrounding more buildings in Ramallah. You can bet that they're not there to exchange pleasantries. They're there to seize terrorists.

Ahmadinejad says that the US will not have its way in the Middle East. Sorry to break it to you pal, but your genocidal aspirations aren't going to come to pass as long as the US is around.

Tigerhawk has an interesting analysis of the situation in Hizbullahland and compares it to the miscalculations by the Argentinians in the leadup to the Falklands War with the British.

Technorati: terrorism, fatah, Gilad, Shalit, Olmert, Eliyahu, Asheri, Ashri, Abbas, Rains, Summer, cavaliers, wrath, PRC, Hamas, Gaza, palestinian, Israel, hizbullah, hezbullah, hezbollah,
lebanon, syria.

Chicago Rules: Living Wage Will Mean Higher Unemployment

You've got to love the law of unintended consequences. Never mind that big-box retailers are a huge source of jobs for entry level positions - a stepping stone to other retail and service jobs, Chicago now says that such companies must provide a living wage.

The ordinance passed 35-14 after three hours of impassioned debate.

The measure requires mega-retailers with over $1 billion in annual sales and stores of at least 90,000 square feet to pay workers at least $10 an hour in wages plus $3 in fringe benefits by mid-2010. The current minimum wage in Illinois is $6.50 an hour and the federal minimum is $5.15.

Mayor Richard M. Daley and others warned the living wage proposal would drive jobs and desperately needed development from some of the city's poorest neighborhoods and lead giants like Wal-Mart to abandon the city.

Wal-Mart spokesman John Bisio said earlier that if the measure passed, ''We'd redirect our focus on our suburban strategy and see how we could better serve our city of Chicago residents from suburban Chicagoland.''

What will this mean? Employers who are forced to incur higher employment costs are more likely to resist hiring new employees. If the costs are high enough, they will relocate or close unprofitable stores.

Anyone want to count on Chicago having higher unemployment in coming months and years as this law takes a hold on the local economy?

Biased Reporting of the Day

Should you go with this video clip of Greg Mitchell being interviewed on MSNBC? He's there to talk about the bias in the media, and engages in quite a bit of bias himself, not to mention fails to note the bias of the MSNBC talking head who omits relevant details about Israel's situation.

Mitchell goes off comparing apples to oranges - 400+ casualties in Lebanon (many of whom are terrorists) versus about 40 in Israel. He quickly turns to the issue of disproportionality of force used by Israel, despite the fact that hundreds of thousands of Israelis are displaced, more than a million are in bunkers and the society at large is hunkering down for a prolonged conflict in Israel.

And this guy wants to blame the US for the situation.

Never mind that the disparity is due to the fact that journalists are ignoring the situation in Israel. That more than 300,000 Israelis are refugees elsewhere in Israel or that 1 million are hunkered down in bunkers and bomb shelters doesn't make for as good video as showing bombed out buildings - many of which housed Hizbullah facilities.

Then, there's the issue of the AP reporting of Israeli strikes into Gaza. The headline reads: 3 girls among 18 Palestinians killed. Only when you read the actual article that a true sense of what happened takes shape:

Fourteen of those killed were militants; it was unclear if one man killed in Gaza City was a militant or a civilian. Most belonged to Hamas or Islamic Jihad and died in Gaza City of tank fire, airstrikes or clashes with Israeli troops. One of the militants was killed by an artillery shell in northern Gaza.

Put aside the fact that these are terrorists, not militants, the fact is that of the 18 people killed, 14 were terrorists. The remaining casualties were the result of the terrorists operating in civilian areas and who hope to use such civilians as human shields.

Atrocious reporting, poor headline writing, and biased sources. Another fine day in the MSM.

Technorati: terrorism, fatah, Gilad, Shalit, Olmert, Eliyahu, Asheri, Ashri, Abbas, Rains, Summer, cavaliers, wrath, PRC, Hamas, Gaza, palestinian, Israel, hizbullah, hezbullah, hezbollah,
lebanon, syria.

New Hope/Lambertville Bridge Needs Repairs

This is bad news for New Hope, PA and Lambertville, NJ. The historic bridge, which recently underwent a major renovation, needs serious repairs as a result from damage sustained in the flooding in June. A truss was bent out of shape, and engineers need to make repairs. Closure of the bridge for a period of time is likely, but not welcome:

"The bridge had damage to the lower cord, a horizontal beam that makes up the truss," he said. "It was hit by debris and has maybe a 7-foot dent."

Engineers for the commission are still assessing the damage and working on a repair plan, Peterson said. The commission expects to have a better idea of what the project will entail, and how much it will cost, "in the next week or so," he said.

A key question is whether the commission will close the structure during the work. The previous shutdown, between January and June 2004, hurt the business districts of both towns, according to some community leaders.

"My sense is the bridge closing had a bigger effect on the business district than the flooding," said Lambertville Mayor David DelVec chio.

"I know people in the business community claim it hurt them," said New Hope Town Manager John Burke.

Tom Wilson, president of the Lambertville Chamber of Commerce, said a series of floods begin ning in September 2004 exacer bated the effects of the closing. While local businesses are resilient, "it's a struggle," he said.

It's Electrifying

In the past two weeks, we've seen numerous problems with the power distribution and generation systems in the US. That's after a major Northeast blackout in 2004 that was the largest ever. That's after the rolling blackouts in California from just a few years ago. What was done in the interim? Not enough.

The problems in New York are one of inadequate distribution capacity, coupled with a heatwave and the decision to keep the entire grid running even though local circuits were being fried. Instead of a broader blackout of short duration, we got a localized blackout that has lasted far longer. That blackout appears to finally be over, but no one in the areas affected believe that they're truly out of the woods; there are still reports of manhole fires and scattered outages.

Out in California, they're concerned about having to implement rolling blackouts because they simply lack the capacity to produce enough power to meet demand. They're busy declaring grid emergencies. Sounds like issues of supply and demand to me. Too much demand. Not enough supply. They're hoping that a break in the heatwave will ease concerns over blackouts.

The problems in St. Louis were due to severe storms bringing down trees and power lines, and while the restoration of power is proceeding, the pace is far too slow for those affected; a complaint registered by many in the New York metro area who have suffered without power for more than a week as Con Ed tries to fix the lines in Queens and downed lines in Westchester after a wild week of weather that included microbursts and a F2 tornado that ripped across the entire county.

Conservation will not ease the problems in either the NY or CA instances. It would only delay the problem for a year or two (economic growth means more businesses and residential energy customers, which means higher demand for power).

So, the only way to solve this problem is to increase both power generation and distribution. Since power generation is largely stymied by NIMBY (and misguided environmentalists - again another story), I'm going to focus on power distribution for this posting.

Power distribution means taking the electricity generated at power plants, zipping them along high voltage lines, stepping them down at transformer stations, running along feeder cables, and stepping them down to local distribution for usage by the customers. Anywhere along the line, a problem could cause a blackout. Storms can cause blackouts when lines are brought down, or too much demand could cause a blackout by burning out lines.

To that end, more redundancy and robustness must be built into the power distribution system. For if a heatwave could lay low the power grid in California or New York, what could a terrorist do if they put their minds to it?

Diplomacy and the Hounds of Hell, Part IX

Arab media reports claim Israel lost 12 soldiers in heavy fighting inside Lebanon today. Israeli reports indicate that about 25 soldiers were wounded. As the details emerge, one must remember that this is what happens when you fight an entrenched enemy who has had six years to prepare - six years where the UN failed to note, demand cessation of such activities, or put a stop to such activities as required under UN SCR 1559. The Israelis are also finding missile launchers in the strangest of places - mosques, personal residences, and the terrorists are using mosques as rallying points.

Israel plans on carving out a security corridor along the border, which suggests that they're in Lebanon for the long haul.

The IDF is also searching for 40 terrorists in Gaza. Hizbullah's rockets keep hitting Israel. Iran denies that Nasrallah is hiding in the Iranian embassy in Beirut.

Meanwhile, Iran really is begging for attention, isn't it. Ignore them at our peril? Absolutely spot on. Iran is at the center of the conflict in Lebanon. Their fingerprints are all over Hizbullah, the ratcheting up of violence in Iraq, and their intentions to acquire and deploy nuclear weapons.

And one has to wonder whether the funny money that turned up in the video shot by NBC outside a financial institution targeted by Israel had Iranian fingerprints all over them.

Via Charles at LGF; the UN is busy repairing roads that the Israelis purposefully damaged in Lebanon to impede Hizbullah from resupplying and moving about the country. I'm sure the UNIFIL thinks that this is part of their job description, but they are actively aiding and abetting terrrorists along with those civilians still in the affected areas.

Meanwhile, Kofi Annan already made up his mind, played judge, jury and executioner of Israel in the court of public opinion before all the facts were in - all while clamoring for an investigation into an incident where four UNIFIL peacekeepers were killed in an outpost along the Lebanese border. Israeli Ambassador Dan Gillerman had some harsh words in reply.Gillerman has also said the following:

"I was shocked and deeply distressed by the hasty statement by the Secretary Heneral insinuating that Israel has deliberately targeted the UN post at Khiam and surprised at these premature and erroneous assertions," Ambassador Dan Gillerman said to the BBC World Service.

"The Secretary General, while demanding an investigation, has already issued his conclusions," Mr Gillerman said in comments marking the first official Israeli reaction to Mr Annan's comments.

"As I told you, Israel is carrying out a thorough inquiry into this tragic incident and we will inform the UN of its results as soon as possible."

Gillerman is absolutely right to go postal on Annan's accusations and claims. Right now, all anyone can say is that it was a tragic incident.

It remains to be seen whether it was anything more than that.

Egypt says that it wont go to war with Israel. Smart move. Chirac says that NATO should not be leading peacekeeping forces in Lebanon. Well, considering that NATO has the means and capabilities that no other international organization does, who does he suggest?

Bloggers to check in with for daily updates are Blue Crab Boulevard, Carl in Jerusalem, Israellycool, Dave Bender, Meryl Yourish, Euphoric Reality, Pajamas Media, Hot Air, Jameel at the Muqata, Greetings from the French Hill, R'Lazer, and Live from an Israeli Bunker. Check back with them regularly for updates.

UPDATE:
Iranian volunteers are set to join up with Hizbullah (still think Iran has nothing to do with this?). Hizbullah claims that they will begin targeting other military targets in Israel - such as the resort town of Netanya. That's more than 60 miles from the Israel/Lebanon border, and certainly puts hundreds of thousands more Israelis under the threat of attack. Not that the media bothers to report on Israel's ongoing refugee problem of its own as more than 300,000 Israelis are seeking refuge elsewhere in the country and more than a million are staying in bomb shelters and bunkers to protect themselves from the Hizbullah rocket attacks from the North and Hamas attacks from Gaza.

As the rockets keep landing in Israel, more than 55 Israelis have been wounded. Terror alerts have been raised in the West Bank.

Talks in Rome designed to gain consensus on a ceasefire have failed. That figures. Too many folks think that a ceasefire is the same as peace, and the US and Israelis know that any ceasefire will only provide aid and comfort to the terrorists who started this latest conflict. That cannot be allowed to happen - as Sec. State Rice said that there will be no status quo ante. The political situation on the ground after this conflict ends in Lebanon will be quite different than before. Here's a discussion on the pros and cons of an international force in Lebanon.

Italy says that it would send forces as part of an international peacekeeping force.

Amnesty International calls for an arms embargo on the whole of the Middle East - which only means that the terrorists will continue to acquire weapons, Iran will continue their clandestine plans to acquire and develop nuclear weapons along with providing weapons to the terrorists, Syria will continue to provide support to the terrorists, and the pressure will be on Israel because they can't necessarily sustain combat indefinitely without support from the US or other third parties. There's no reason to believe that anyone will actually adhere to any such embargo.

UPDATE:
Wretchard is deadly accurate with his take on Annan, the UNIFIL mission in South Lebanon and Israeli fire in the vicinity of UNIFIL operations. Ed Morrissey comments on diplomatic maneuverings, Chirac's statements and NATO peacekeeping. David Ignatius writes of negotiating settlements in Lebanon. Instead of focusing on eliminating the source of the threat - Hizbullah, the diplomats are trying to restore stability to a situation that was inherently unstable. Here's what Ignatius says about how such a deal would work for the Israelis:

What's in it for Israel to accept such a deal, which would allow Hezbollah to survive? The answer is that an attempt to go all the way and destroy the Shiite militia would require a full-scale invasion of Lebanon, and might well misfire in the same way as Israel's 1982 invasion. Better to go for a solid half a loaf -- pushing armed Hezbollah fighters north of the Litani River and bringing in an international force to help the Lebanese army police a buffer zone -- than to risk further setbacks.

Hizbullah has shown no signs of ever disarming itself, and indeed claims to possess even longer range missiles and rockets. If that's the case, going to the Litani River is insufficient to protect Northern Israel. Iran is supplying Hizbullah with the rockets, missiles, and other weapons being used to attack Israelis. That isn't going to change unless Lebanon's border with Syria is addressed as well. You want to bring about a peaceful resolution to the situation in Lebanon, it should start there - not on Israel's border with Lebanon.

The IAF continues to strike at Hizbullah targets, and is also targeting Amal as well.

UPDATE:
The Lebanese President issues his support for Hizbullah. Not a good move, unless you know that Hizbullah threatened him if he didn't support Hizbullah. Hizbullah is a terrorist group, and you can be sure that the politicians are deathly afraid of even appearing to cross the group.

Is Hizbullah positioning itself near UN positions on purpose? Seems that way. Especially when you can see it in pictures. Israellycool has more on this. The UN really needs to explain itself as to why it permitted Hizbullah to occupy positions adjacent to its own, despite UN SCR 1559 requiring the elimination of all non government militias and to assist the Lebanese government secure its borders.

There is also a report, that the Canadian killed at the UN outpost reported to his superiors that Hizbullah was operating on the grounds of the UN outpost.

60% of Kiryat Shimona residents have left the area. They're refugees. That's what they are. They're seeking refuge from the incessant Hizbullah attacks on their area.

Any talk about international forces in Lebanon must start and end with the Syria/Lebanon border. That's the key to ending this conflict, not the Israel/Lebanon border despite the focus being on Israel and Lebanon. Hizbullah is being supplied across the Syrian border, and it's how their forces, along with Iranian assistance, are entering Lebanon. While Israeli airstrikes did damage routes leading into Lebanon from Syria, that is only a temporary move - and Hizbullah will find alternative routes from Syria. And I see that the Israelis concur (HT Solomon X at LGF).

Dozens of Hizbullah terrorists were killed in heavy fighting in the Bint Jbeil area. That's where 25-30 Israelis were injured as well (though Arab media sources continue to claim that a dozen Israelis were killed).

UPDATE:
The Jersualem Post is reporting that eight members of the Golani Brigade were killed in action in Bint Jbeil (Ynet link). Soldiers injured in this fight want to get back and speak of many acts of honor and courage.

As a PSA for the Lefties out there whose moral equivalence overwhelms facts and logic, Lorie Byrd provides a refresher on how and when to use the term terrorist - even when such organizations do 'good deeds.'

The EU is calling the attack on the UN outpost unacceptable and demands an inquiry. Get in the queue. Israel will address your concerns in turn. In the meantime, perhaps Israel should continue killing Hizbullah who continue to fire rockets into Israel while the debating circles in Europe keep debating and dithering. And Ahmadinejad is calling for another one of his ceasefires. Israel must really be taking it to Hizbullah for him to make another empty cry for ceasefire. Lebanon, meanwhile, arrested forty people who they claim were aiding Israeli efforts.

UPDATE:
Others blogging the conflict, including the reaction to the UN outpost hit by Israeli fire that resulted in four observers killed: File it Under v2.0, Coalition of the Swilling, ZioNation, Jeff Goldstein, Meryl Yourish on Hizbullah war crimes, and Laurence Simon on Sheba Farms and on Hizbullah's use of civilian facilities to further their war against Israel.

UPDATE:
The Israelis have attacked a Lebanese army base. Another weapons cache was attacked in Jabayla. The US wants Israel to deal with Syria over the Shaba Farms area (Mt. Dov).

Abu Mazen, who hasn't been heard from in a while, declares that Israel is about to obliterate Lebanon and the Palestinian Authority. Sorry, but that's not happening, regardless of his overheated rhetoric. This is a mere fraction of what Israel could do if it wanted - and it doesn't.

The Canadian Prime Minister doubts that the Israelis purposefully attacked the UN outpost, as Annan claims and the hard left automatically assumes is true.

Want to see Hizbullah's positions? Check out Google Earth - that according to Defense Tech. The reason these positions aren't being disseminated by the Israelis or Americans is because they don't want to give away their technical capabilities, which is entirely understandable.

Melanie Philips notes the ongoing war against Israel. Her essay is compelling, but this stands out:

What is essentially a war of defence and of survival, however, is being presented to Britons in their armchairs as a war by Israel of unconscionable aggression, with all the suffering taking place among the Lebanese who are in turn presented as the innocent bystanders caught up in a war in which they have no standing. The fact that Hezbollah was elected to the Lebanese parliament, holds government portfolios and has been allowed to operate with impunity by the Lebanese as a state within a state to carry out its murderous objectives towards Israel is almost totally ignored. Yes, innocent Lebanese are dying and suffering in this war, and that is awful. Innocent civilians, tragically, are always victims in any war. But Lebanon itself is not an innocent bystander at all. It is an accessory to genocidal terror.

Others continuing to cover the crisis: All Things Beautiful, Defense Tech considers the swirling debate around Israel's air campaign, Blue Crab Boulevard, Liberty and Justice comments on Annan and rushing to judgment, Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler, Partisan Times, Outside the Beltway (a good roundup of the UN outpost incident), Michelle Malkin, Right Wing News, and Hyscience.

Technorati: terrorism, fatah, Gilad, Shalit, Olmert, Eliyahu, Asheri, Ashri, Abbas, Rains, Summer, cavaliers, wrath, PRC, Hamas, Gaza, palestinian, Israel, hizbullah, hezbullah, hezbollah,
lebanon, syria.